Commissioner of Police, Clayton Fernander released a statement on Thursday announcing that no further comments would be made on the investigation into the conduct of Chief Superintendent, Michael Johnson.
Before this latest statement Fernander had given periodical updates on the case. He previously released a statement announcing the involvement of officers of the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom in the investigation. He revealed officers by name and proposed dates that they would arrive and leave the capital as per of the investigation.
Chief Superintendent Johnson is under investigation for his involvement in voice notes leaked on social media allegedly of him having a conversation with purported gang leader, Michael Fox Jr. arranging to have criminal charges against Fox squashed for payment.
Organization For Responsible Governance Executive Director, Matt Aubrey spoke with ZNS News on Thursday about the importance of the implementation of a process by which questions about the investigation can be addressed.
Aubrey said, “we’ve advocated for a long time on the importance of an integrity commission as an independent entity that could vet and receive these claims, you know, determine their merit and within that commission there were built in components of public disclosure that happened at a key period. An investigation that is undergoing isn’t going to necessarily benefit by getting feedback or input on the regular basis or updates on a regular basis in a public way. But if it’s known that, well, this is when we’ll hear about it and this is what we’ll know is going through the process then it all of a sudden gives a level of public assurance which contributes to greater trust in the system, greater confidence of what comes out of the system and will be done as fairly and as apolitically as possible.”
Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe also released a statement on Thursday deferring to the position of the Commissioner of Police on the matter. He said, “In line with the clear articulation of the proper function of the Executive Government in matters of this nature, I defer to the judgment of the Royal Bahamas Police
Force in exercising their constitutional function.”
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